A majority of my writer’s block comes from the overwhelming pressure to get it perfect the first time (or the time I’m currently doing it). I keep stopping myself because what I’ve currently got sounds too cheesy or melodramatic or whatever:

Ug! Seen this a million times!
Oh god, what a bunch of melodramatic nonsense.
This lowbrow humor won’t fly!

Pish posh to that! My new method to overcome this is to write it wrong. Instead of staring at a screen waiting for the perfect blahbidy blah, or rewriting the same line over and over, I will embrace the cliques and crap that are slowing me down.

Then, I’ll watch the scenes with a notebook and think, “Well, this really stinks! You know what would be funny/interesting/good here instead…” and jot it down. Think of it like putting place holder in your scenes. I’ll keep this crappy joke here until I come up with a better one.

After a week of letting my mind clear, I went through the script and now have about 5 pages of notes. The notes are a healthy combo of scene specific and script-as-a-whole notes.

Act 1 Scene 5:
Do more of the embarrassing photos framed in office.
Running gag in the scene.
Maybe cut to the frame store? Frame store owner: I’m rich!

Act 2 Scene 8:
News report and action in the bar needs to balance each other better.
Reporter banter goes on too long.

Script as a whole:
Strengthen the relationship between inventor and his love interest.
Too much arguing. Needs to be replaced by “real action”.
Introduce the singing GPS earlier!
Infomercials need to be in the movie more
Too many holocaust references

Now it’s a matter of organizing my notes, deciding what to work in and what to eliminate. It’s very exciting at this point because I can really see it coming together. I hope to have the next rewrite done in 2 weeks.

I’m putting a tight deadline on myself so I don’t get into a pattern of endlessly sweating the details. Rewriting is a process of deconstruction and reassembly which can go on forever if you’re not careful.

2 weeks from now is the 4th of July. I plan on spending that day celebrating our nation’s independence and the completion of the second draft. USA! USA! USA!